Dreams take flight where Santa Monica meets the sky!

FOSMO members have been serving the Los Angeles community for over 30 years. We love Santa Monica Airport! Our community outreach programs are designed to help promote positive growth for the community and aviation by sharing our love for SMO.

Our Mission Statement: To promote aviation at Santa Monica Airport; to educate the public as to the past, present, and future benefits of aviation and thereby preserve our community.

Santa Monica Airport (SMO) – the oldest operating airport in Los Angeles County – has a heritage dating back to the days of many famous Barn Stormers and Wing Walkers. Some folks say that pilots may have used the site as early as 1917, although official records indicate the first flights in Santa Monica took place in 1919, when pilots flying early WWI biplanes used the site as an informal grass landing strip.

Among other important aircraft built here, Douglas manufactured the entire Douglas Commercial “DC” series of reciprocating-engine-powered airliners at SMO. During World War II the airport area was cleverly disguised from the air with the construction of a false “town” (built with the help of Hollywood craftsman) suspended atop it.

Today, SMO is one of the country’s best municipal airports, handling between 400 and 500 operations per day.